Friday, January 25, 2013

Typical Fashion

It's been awhile since my last post. Not sure if you missed them or not, but I've missed writing them. We've been just a teensy weensy busy of late. It's typical fashion for the Moose and me. Never without another project, or two or three....

We are in the process of revamping our house. We've lived here for 8 years, and it's 13 years old. It needs a face lift.

We found a great bargain on travertine tile; 18x18, neutral tones. The tiles when sold individually run close to $9 bucks a tile, and we have around 600 tiles. We didn't pay near that much, since it was on clearance, that's why we moved up flooring on our wish list, to "we can't beat this deal so let's go for it" list. Now the fun part, learning how to install the stuff yourself. They wanted $7K to install just a little over 1,000 square feet.

To be clear, the $7K did NOT cover the cost of removing the old tile, carpet, baseboards, leveling of the floor and filling in cracks. It's wouldn't cover the whole house paint project we moved to the front of the list. Just the install, 2-3 guys for 2-3 days. It did not cover the cost of any materials.

It's apparent I'm in the wrong business. I don't begrudge anyone making a living, but I am not willing to part with that kind of money. We've enlisted help from Padre' (my Dad), my Uncle, and a dear friend Fred (who's actually laid the stuff before). Between the three of them, we should have it covered. My uncle even ran to the hardware store, and they gave him an actual class on laying the tile! I'm not sure who's more excited at the prospect of laying this stuff, the Moose and me, or them!

I'll keep you posted. I forgot to take before photos, sorry, and it's too late now. The place looks like a construction site or a war zone. You pick..

9 comments:

Here is a calculator that would give you a ballpark. Note that a lot depends on the size and type of tile even if the tyle is bought by the customer. Also all the overhead, at least, will shift to the labor, so buying your own tile, to be installed by others is a limited bargain.

Thanks for the link. It's hard to guage on pricing, however one of your dear friends who is going to help us, who used to lay tile for a living, thought it was high. That may be due to the fact he did it some time ago...

The $7K came from the hardware store where we bought the tile, they wanted to install it, and that's what they quoted us.

Once you've laid the 1st few, it goes really fast. Or as fast as your back can take it. Those 18x18 tiles are back breaking but beautiful once done. IMO, the grout is the hardest part. Can't wait to see the pics!

The poor guy who is actually the "skilled" labor in tile setting. Most likely would only make around $2 per square ft. All the rest of that cash would have been sucked up by the managerial types in sales.No wonder our economy is failing, skilled labor is poorly paid while foaming lips receive the bulk of the profit...

Enjoy the process! We've laid tile only twice, once for the entry in our prior home and then for the hearth on which our woodstove resides. It really isn't that difficult once you get going, but then our projects were small ones -- nothing like what you're taking on! Looking forward to photos. ~Lisa